I have almost always worked in open plan and tend to prefer it because you are more likely to pick up on important issues or be offered help if someone overhears you discussing a problem.

I have never found it particularly distracting but perhaps I have been lucky that most workplaces have been pretty calm. Hell I am at work in an open plan office now and the loudest noise is my keyboard clicking!

We have an idiot who likes to laugh and talk really loudly and so really struggle when I need to attend conference calls

This is so annoying! Mind you I am in a small office (only 6 of us in total) and we still have one of these people! I've previously worked in huge open plan offices that are much quieter than my office is now Sad: . Entirely depends on the people, not the room size.

YANBU, OP, but if you can’t change the office, can you change the others’ behaviour? If they’re disruptive, you might want to ask your manager to have a word with their manager.

I worked in a very large open plan office, maybe 200 people per floor, and one rule was that meetings had to be in a closed room or in one of the meeting spaces on one of the non-working floors. Could you have something like that introduced at your work?

and one rule was that meetings had to be in a closed room or in one of the meeting spaces

I once got told off by the woman who was sitting next to me for having a "meeting" when I colleague came over to discuss something. Of course, since there were no "rules" about it, I couldn't object to her constant very loud gossipy phone calls.

People reading emails or documents out loud to themselves drives me mad. A woman I sit next to used to do it loads. I found wheeling my chair over to her every time she did it under the guise of presuming she was talking to me, stopped her doing it as much

No YANBU. I hate it too. With a passion. I just like to get my head down and work, and I find it tough with lots of background noise.I don't do well with lots of competing noises though - it makes me so irritated when the TV is on for example and OH will play a music thing on his phone.

When I was working (SAHM now) I was a department head - I was so excited when I got promoted because I'd get my own office. It was bliss for a month before they turfed all DHs back out into the open plan space because they needed more meeting rooms and made it so only Directors had offices.

Bring back the old style cubicles that are so frowned upon these days!